Continuing Education/Career Development Question

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Specializes in MedSurg, Clinic, ER.

I've been working in the ED for most of my nursing career (a short 8 years), but only as an RN for 1 year. I've always been enthusiastic about opportunities to attend education sessions (i.e. SA AirLife sessions, various local conferences, etc.) because I have a desire to be the best I can be at this career. I know that no amount of continuing education sessions will make me a better nurse... just (hopefully) a more informed nurse.

I've noticed, however, that many of my colleagues are not at all interested in this sort of thing. I work in a rural hospital and there's a lot we don't encounter... so I'm starting to wonder if I'm just getting carried away with this stuff.

I would like to hear from other ED nurses on attending conferences and education sessions. Thoughts? Opinions? Perspectives? (Resources?)

Thanks in advance.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Enriching your mind and expanding your clinical knowledge is a good thing. Keep being you. ?

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10 hours ago, ziggysgal,RN said:

I've always been enthusiastic about opportunities to attend education sessions (i.e. SA AirLife sessions, various local conferences, etc.) because I have a desire to be the best I can be at this career. I know that no amount of continuing education sessions will make me a better nurse... just (hopefully) a more informed nurse.

I would like to hear from other ED nurses on attending conferences and education sessions. Thoughts? Opinions? Perspectives? (Resources?)

Thanks in advance.

Why do you think that no amount of continuing education sessions will make you a better nurse, just hopefully a more informed nurse? Good quality continuing education can very definitely help make one a better nurse. However, the continuing education won't help one become a better nurse if one doesn't assimilate it properly, undertake any other necessary studying in relation to it, and then correctly apply the new knowledge to one's practice.

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Specializes in MedSurg, Clinic, ER.
9 hours ago, Susie2310 said:

Why do you think that no amount of continuing education sessions will make you a better nurse, just hopefully a more informed nurse? Good quality continuing education can very definitely help make one a better nurse. However, the continuing education won't help one become a better nurse if one doesn't assimilate it properly, undertake any other necessary studying in relation to it, and then correctly apply the new knowledge to one's practice.

Perhaps I said it wrong... I believe informed is just the first step to better. No amount of education *alone* will make me better.. I believe I (or any nurse) have to take the knowledge and apply it practically and gain experience also to be better.

I love learning but I often encounter the why bother reaction from my colleagues and I wonder if maybe I'm going about this wrong...

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Specializes in CVICU.

I think your attitude is awesome! Never stop learning for the rest of your life. My grandfather is a surgeon and still travels for conferences and learns new things, and the man is 80 years old! I always tell myself that if he can still learn something new so can I. It keeps your mind sharp and enhances your critical thinking and patient care. Do not lose this fervor for learning!

I think the "why bother" reaction is from people who have gotten set in their way, or know what works for them and don't care to enhance their practice. This is the wrong attitude to have, especially for patient care. If we are to deliver the best care to the people we care for, we should be up to date on best practices. This however, is often challenging to implement, given this pushback.

The other factor in why you might be getting pushback is your experience. While you have 7 years as an ED tech (I am assuming), and 1 year as a nurse, your nursing experience might be a credibility factor. I know this can be frustrating to hear, and while it may or may not be a true factor in your knowledge, it may be a perceived factor amongst your peers. A senior nurse being told "the latest and greatest" in medicine from someone with one year experience in nursing may not be taken well.

I think the best thing to do would be to continue to grow your knowledge base and be a resource for people when something comes up! Keep your chin up and your mind open to learning new things.

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Specializes in MedSurg, Clinic, ER.
37 minutes ago, ptier_MNMurse said:

The other factor in why you might be getting pushback is your experience. While you have 7 years as an ED tech (I am assuming), and 1 year as a nurse, your nursing experience might be a credibility factor. I know this can be frustrating to hear, and while it may or may not be a true factor in your knowledge, it may be a perceived factor amongst your peers. A senior nurse being told "the latest and greatest" in medicine from someone with one year experience in nursing may not be taken well.

My experience is actually as an LVN working in the ED, but in most cases it might as well have been as a tech so I can see how this might be perceived.

Thank you for the positive feedback. Also, awesome story about your grandfather!

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Specializes in Psychiatry.
On 6/6/2019 at 5:10 AM, ziggysgal,RN said:

I've been working in the ED for most of my nursing career (a short 8 years), but only as an RN for 1 year. I've always been enthusiastic about opportunities to attend education sessions (i.e. SA AirLife sessions, various local conferences, etc.) because I have a desire to be the best I can be at this career. I know that no amount of continuing education sessions will make me a better nurse... just (hopefully) a more informed nurse.

I've noticed, however, that many of my colleagues are not at all interested in this sort of thing. I work in a rural hospital and there's a lot we don't encounter... so I'm starting to wonder if I'm just getting carried away with this stuff.

I would like to hear from other ED nurses on attending conferences and education sessions. Thoughts? Opinions? Perspectives? (Resources?)

Thanks in advance.

I spent one year as a ER nurse so I can't say much specific to the emergency environment. However, I've found the majority of all types of nurses to feel this way. Most seem completely indifferent to learning more how or why or anything evidence based. This is true for RNs and most NPs I've met.

Sure, with burn out comes apathy, but I think it's something different. Although nursing allows for career growth I don't believe most who become nurses inherently look for that. I believe the mindset of most people who become nurses is simply to find a job they can check in and out of coupled with some altruism.

When I was a junior nurse student, ten years older than my classmates and a couple of college degrees heavier, I recall being at a clinical site and a RN "training" us telling us we "really don't need to know all the scientific stuff." Despite the chagrin associated with this it's true. Most nurses won't really need to in their over worked, technical capacities, yet most don't care to know.

I wager the environment is different here because the posters are all people with inherent professional interests or they wouldn't be on a professional discussion board.

I recall getting a 20+ year RN as a student psych NP asking me if it would be "helpful" to learn about the thyroid. She asked what she needed to know. I described the inherent connection between the endocrine system and psychiatry and told her to come back two days later knowing how the thyroid works, how thyroid hormones are synthesized, how lithium interferes, and to know enough to evaluate, diagnose, and treat thyroid disorders even though we won't be treating them extensively. She did too! ?

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On 6/6/2019 at 6:10 AM, ziggysgal,RN said:

I've been working in the ED for most of my nursing career (a short 8 years), but only as an RN for 1 year. I've always been enthusiastic about opportunities to attend education sessions (i.e. SA AirLife sessions, various local conferences, etc.) because I have a desire to be the best I can be at this career. I know that no amount of continuing education sessions will make me a better nurse... just (hopefully) a more informed nurse.

I've noticed, however, that many of my colleagues are not at all interested in this sort of thing. I work in a rural hospital and there's a lot we don't encounter... so I'm starting to wonder if I'm just getting carried away with this stuff.

I would like to hear from other ED nurses on attending conferences and education sessions. Thoughts? Opinions? Perspectives? (Resources?)

Thanks in advance.

Being better informed does make you a better nurse, The fact that your co-workers have no interest in excellence shouldn't factor into your decision making. I work with some nice people, and good nurses who do nothing extra.

As far as training- get CEN, TNCC, ENPC, CPEN, ...... Just keep going till they run out of letters.

As far as experience- pick up a per diem elsewhere. You will be impressed on how much you

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On 6/6/2019 at 6:10 AM, ziggysgal,RN said:

I've noticed, however, that many of my colleagues are not at all interested in this sort of thing. I work in a rural hospital and there's a lot we don't encounter... so I'm starting to wonder if I'm just getting carried away with this stuff.

On 6/7/2019 at 2:49 AM, ziggysgal,RN said:

I love learning but I often encounter the why bother reaction from my colleagues

I really wouldn't waste any time worrying about what your colleagues are or aren't interested in doing with their free time. Your enthusiasm and your personal rationale for pursuing these things is excellent. But because everyone is on their own life journey and has their own personality and their own priorities and their own philosophies and their own strengths and their own interests and their own obligations and their own history of experiences in the world, it becomes difficult to make any more of this than the fact that it is something you enjoy so you are doing it.

If what you are doing is working out well, keep doing it.

??

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